Here is a post from last nite on a board I'm a member of. 2 Gator grads are missing in the rubble of the hotel. One's family has gone to D.R. but its not safe for them to travel on the ground.
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We arrived in Santo Domingo early this afternoon and spent some time with the representatives of the company Brendan was
working with this afternoon. What we have begun to realize is that the US State Dept is totally inept. The had no idea what was going on over at the Hotel Montana. The State Dept has no one on the ground at the Montana. They have no idea what is happening and they don't make much effort to find out.
Things on the ground in Haiti are getting bad, to the point that we are doing our best not to go over, but if State doesn't get their heads out of their butts we will have to do that.
The US Government shows us that Katrina was no fluke, they are as inept in this as they were in Katrina. We get much better and much more accurate information about what is going on at the Montana from FaceBook, can you imagine, a mother is trying to find out about her son and Facebook is a better and more complete source of information that the US Government.
It is time to turn to start holding the politician's feet to the fire.
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CNN link to find people, State Dept. Ops. ph. #, more
http://www.ireport.com/ir-topic-stories.jspa?topicId=381628

Why is the US State dept. inept? Its a shit hole country. Im all for giving them some help, but we have our own problems.

The Hell with Haiti....Last time I checked we have our own damn problems in the US....We are at War but most of the fucking idiots don't care, because it has been going on so long....But we are still losing Marines, Soldiers, Seamen, and Airmen everyday....So the hell with Haiti until we get our own problems straight...

It is tragic for the parents to lose their child. No one would ever disagree with this. It aslo would be a natural reaction to want to blame someone when this happens. You cannot, however, blame the U.S. State Dept for the unrest in Haiti. Unfortianately naturall disaster do happen, and people do lose their lives.

does this person think they are the only american in Haiti and that they are the only person that needs help?

There was a time that it was simply assumed that private organizations would and could be more helpful in these situations than the government.

ccrunner, a whiny person blaming someone would not be taking a trip down there to try and recover his son's body dead or alive. His point is the 'intel' is better on facebook than what he can learn from our Govt. about what is going on. That must be frustrating given his situation.

hog hauler and Tiger2003, Its not about helping Haiti, its about Americans trying to rescue Americans from the hotel they were at. One of them was online when the quake hit, so we know he is there. They had live rescues for 4 days there, but now he is just trying to recover his son's body.
He is saying the US State Dept is inept, you interpret that as blaming them for the native's unrest. I don't see it that way. They are 'in charge' and he is learning more from facebook. That is his frustration. If he was blaming others, he would not be risking himself to find his son.

Speedofsand wrote: ccrunner, a whiny person blaming someone would not be taking a trip down there to try and recover his son's body dead or alive. His point is the 'intel' is better on facebook than what he can learn from our Govt. about what is going on. That must be frustrating given his situation.

hog hauler and Tiger2003, Its not about helping Haiti, its about Americans trying to rescue Americans from the hotel they were at. One of them was online when the quake hit, so we know he is there. They had live rescues for 4 days there, but now he is just trying to recover his son's body.
He is saying the US State Dept is inept, you interpret that as blaming them for the native's unrest. I don't see it that way. They are 'in charge' and he is learning more from facebook. That is his frustration. If he was blaming others, he would not be risking himself to find his son.

how does this guy know the state department doesnt know anything? you have to remember, the stuff on facebook isnt better "intel" its just more specific because its dealing with one person. for all we know there is another place in haiti with 10 missing americans. and instead of posting stuff on facebook and complaining, why doesnt this guy get ahold of the state department? how else is the state department going to know where he is if he doesnt tell them?

how does this guy know the state department doesnt know anything?

He's been in touch with the state dept. since the quake. They gave his info, and a pic to the state dept. as soon as they could after the quake. They knew right away he was there. He is also in touch with them in Santo Domingo. He realizes thousands are rescued, dead or alive. He knows more attention is needed to care for the seriously injured, and food and water is more important now than digging bodies. He just doesn't want his son to be dumped out of a truck into a mass grave pit.

Speedofsand wrote: how does this guy know the state department doesnt know anything?

He's been in touch with the state dept. since the quake. They gave his info, and a pic to the state dept. as soon as they could after the quake. They knew right away he was there. He is also in touch with them in Santo Domingo. He realizes thousands are rescued, dead or alive. He knows more attention is needed to care for the seriously injured, and food and water is more important now than digging bodies. He just doesn't want his son to be dumped out of a truck into a mass grave pit.

I feel bad for the guy, but why is any of this the state department's responsibility?

because he has to go through them to ask and find out official information, like a name of a recovered body. The U.S. is supposedly in charge of all logistics, no ?

Speedofsand wrote: how does this guy know the state department doesnt know anything?

He's been in touch with the state dept. since the quake. They gave his info, and a pic to the state dept. as soon as they could after the quake. They knew right away he was there. He is also in touch with them in Santo Domingo. He realizes thousands are rescued, dead or alive. He knows more attention is needed to care for the seriously injured, and food and water is more important now than digging bodies. He just doesn't want his son to be dumped out of a truck into a mass grave pit.

well after reading this, his rant on facebook is nothing but whining and complaining. if he understands everything you just said, he would let the state department do their job instead of criticizing them. does he sit in on their daily briefings and read their intelligence reports? if he doesnt, he truely doesnt know what the state department knows.

Glorydays, first you say he should have called them and say there could be 10 more Americans somewhere else. Let me tell you there are dozens of Americans trapped in the Montana. He is there in person, yes I believe he knows what he is being told by the US Govt and US AID. It is not baseless whining and complaining. This politics board is as bad as the serious business board, full of idiots.

Aren't we being a little hard on a guy who may have just lost his son?

Speedofsand wrote: Glorydays, first you say he should have called them and say there could be 10 more Americans somewhere else. Let me tell you there are dozens of Americans trapped in the Montana. He is there in person, yes I believe he knows what he is being told by the US Govt and US AID. It is not baseless whining and complaining. This politics board is as bad as the serious business board, full of idiots.

huh, i think you misunderstood what i said? i meant that even though there maybe people trapped at his son's hotel, there could be more americans trapped at another hotel who might be still alive and would be a higher priority than that of his son, whose status is unknown. for example, maybe they just rescued 100 americans from hotel "X" instead of making the decision to rescue 15 from the Montana and only being able to save 50 from hotel "X". its a tough decision, but saving 100 is better than saving 65. what if before the state department and this guy arrived the body of his son was removed by some Haitian citizen and that is the reason why he cant be located yet? i dont think most people understand how complex this type of thing is. i am sorry, but neither you, me, nor this guy knows the whole situation of what is happening in Haiti.

BoatShoes wrote: Aren't we being a little hard on a guy who may have just lost his son?

maybe, no one never said they didnt feel bad for the guy though. but he is making pretty much baseless claims on how inept the state department is. sure its probably just frustration on his part on why he cant find his son, but he is blaming someone else for something they might not have any control of. its part of the problem with the instant news and information age. everyone is so used to seeing something happen right away.

rescue efforts have been taking place at the hotel for the past few days and survivors are being found. Chile, France and Spain seem to be doing a lot of work there.

It has been reported that more than seven rescue squads have been working at Hotel Montana destruction. International rescuers are paying a great amount of attention to Hotel Montana and it has been feared that many people are still under the rubble of smashed Hotel Montana.

the US cant be everywhere there. and i checked a few press releases from Obama and nowhere did i see the US is in charge of all rescues.

http://globalgrind.com/source/news.about-knowledge.com/1303484/hotel-montana-news-all-about-news-and-news/

http://amr2you.blogspot.com/2010/01/hotel-montana-news.html

Speedofsand wrote: Glorydays, first you say he should have called them and say there could be 10 more Americans somewhere else. Let me tell you there are dozens of Americans trapped in the Montana. He is there in person, yes I believe he knows what he is being told by the US Govt and US AID. It is not baseless whining and complaining. This politics board is as bad as the serious business board, full of idiots.

You just got your thread closed

I suggest you read the rules